The Wonder Of CGI Liquids And Fluid Simulation
Why not add an extra layer of enticement to your food and drink visuals with the use of CGI and simulations? Create mouth-watering visuals with liquids that splash, drip, fizz, melt or even fluids that explode out of your product, to add an extra dimension to stop customers scrolling past your content.
Are you looking for food visuals that make your mouth water or drinks that look as good as they taste? Then welcome to the wonders of CGI liquids and fluid simulation.
Adding realistic-looking liquid or fluid effects to an image or animation, allows brands to create eye-catching and attention-grabbing content that is sure to stand out from the competition. And with CGI your imagination is the limit! Whilst many of our clients opt for natural visual effects such as water splashing, or chocolate pouring or dripping onto a product, we also love to get involved in pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the physical world making the impossible real in the virtual world. For example, this image of a milk liquid splash where the client wanted the individual splashes turning into butterflies.
Are you looking for some help with your liquid visuals or animations?
Whether you need water, oil, foam, ice, or bubbles, we can create any type of CGI liquids or fluid that you can imagine and we can create a liquid or fluid simulation however you want, think splash effects, pools, waves, pours, spills, eruptions, or even explosions. We have also produced liquid style logos, text, created characters shapes or features out of liquid (as per the liquid lips below), or simply added liquid effects to an environment such as a river.
The use of CGI can also help to create a sense of realism and authenticity, which can be particularly important in industries such as food and drink where it is important to convey a sense of quality and trust. In addition, the use of CGI liquids or fluid simulation can add excitement and intrigue to an advertisement, making it more likely to be remembered by potential customers.
Whether you are looking for CGI images, animations, packshot visuals or TV ads our teams of 3D artists at Imaginar, are experts in the field of liquid and fluid effects. We have years of experience in creating realistic-looking liquids and fluids, using software such as Maya, Houdini, Tyflow, X Particles, Ice, RealFlow and Unreal Engine and we know how to make your products or services look their best.
The Benefits of Using CGI Liquids and Fluid Simulation for your Products or Services
First and foremost, it can help your product or service stand out from the competition. If you’re in the food and drink industry, for example, adding realistic-looking liquid effects such as splashes, drips or spritzing can help your product stand out from the crowd. This can help to provide a sense of realism for your audience and boost the emotional connection with your brand or product.
Secondly, it can help add an extra dimension to your product or service. This creates a more immersive experience for your audience. For example, if you’re selling a new type of soft drink, adding CGI spritzing to your product can help to say that the product is best served chilled and it is refreshing, as well as making it look more exciting and inviting.
Thirdly, it can help to create a sense of realism and authenticity. This is particularly important in industries such as food and drink where it is essential to convey a sense of trust and quality. Imagine you are selling a new type of chocolate, adding realistic CGI melting effects to show the chocolate dripping or even a flavoured centre being coated in the chocolate can help to create images and animations that sell the unique flavour of the product.
Finally, it can add excitement and intrigue to your advertisement. If you want your ad to be remembered by potential customers, adding fluid effects can help to make it more eye-catching and memorable. Take a look at this Johnnie Walker Scotch Whiskey bottle that has been sliced in half by an arrow with the liquid exploding out of the shattered glass bottle.
Why use CGI to create liquids and fluids?
As you will have heard us mention before, there are many benefits to using CGI instead of filming or traditional photography. Here we take a look at some of the benefits of creating CGI liquids and fluid simulations over trying to film or photograph them.
- It is much cheaper! Using CGI eliminates the need to rent expensive equipment and studio space to create these special visual effects. You will not need multiple takes to create the exact look you want to achieve and if you wanted to, the liquid or fluid simulations could be used multiple times.
- You have complete control over how the final image or animation looks. Whilst with filming and photography the final visual effect is as the photographer has captured it and it is difficult to adapt afterwards, with CGI you can adapt and modify the 3D model as much as you like, even after you have built the 3D model. This means the liquids can be adapted should you change your mind and without having to rehire a studio and start from scratch, the speed of the liquid moving can be controlled and even the texture can be changed.
- You can achieve things that wouldn’t be impossible to film in real life. As we like to say at Imaginar, ‘We make the impossible real’ and with CGI your imagination really is the only limit to what we can achieve. For example, a bottle splitting in half at a specific point with liquid exploding in a specific direction or liquid exploding out of your product and forming into certain shapes or letters.
How to make CGI liquids and fluid simulation?
So how do we do it? We have talked about what we can achieve but how do we create these photo-real effects that can turn your customers heads?
All of our 3D simulation artists use the latest 3D computer graphics software inluding Maya, Houdini, X particles, Tyflow, RealFlow and Ice to create a 3D model of the liquid or fluid. The creation of CGI liquid simulations typically begins with the simulation of the particles that will make up the fluid. We then use a process of ’emitting’ these particles from an object, such as a bottle, and ‘caching’ the simulation. Caching is basically saving the data so that it can be played back at a later stage.
Once we have the cached data, we can then begin to add daesthetic detail to the liquid or fluid simulation. We can add turbulence or foam to the water or even change the colour of the liquid.
The next step is to create the materials for the liquid or fluid. This is what will make it look realistic and photo-real. We do this by using a process known as ‘shading’. This is where we create the textures and then add custom lighting setups for the object to make it look realistic.
Finally, we will render the image or animation. This is where all of the work comes together to mimic the effect of the fluids in a particular environment. We use specialised rendering software to do this which makes the liquid or fluid look photo-realistic.
Can we help add some photo-real effects to your products or services ?
If you’re interested in using liquid and fluid simulation on your next product image or animation, we’d be more than happy to help you. Our team of 3D experts have years of experience in the field of liquid and fluid simulation—so you can rest assured that your project is in good hands. Through the production process our team will work with you closely to ensure that the final product meets all of your expectations.
If you would like to see some examples of our work, please take a look at our portfolio. If you have any questions or would like to discuss a project with us, please get in touch. We would be more than happy to chat with you about how we can help.